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Racer X
Racer X is a Los Angeles-based heavy metal band that achieved their greatest fame in the late 1980's. Releasing their first album, Street Lethal, in 1986, the band rocketed onto the scene chiefly due to the lightning-speed guitar playing of Paul Gilbert, the band's primary creative force. Due to a lack of major label interest, the band broke up in 1988 shortly after Gilbert left to form Mr. Big. However, the band has resurfaced several times to release albums (most notably Technical Difficulties in 1999) and, rarely, play a live show. Origins Racer X was formed in Hollywood by Guitar Institute of Technology student Paul Gilbert, who recruited the bass talents of Bass Institute of Technology student Juan Alderete and Percussion Institute of Technology student Harry Gschoesser. Gilbert and longtime friend Mike Varney discovered Jeff Martin, a singer from Phoenix-based metal band Surgical Steel. Once Martin was hired, the first lineup of Racer X was complete. Gilbert had amassed a respectable stockade of material by that point and sent tapes of his compositions to Jeff Martin in Phoenix, who would write the vocal parts, tape them, and then send them back to Los Angeles. A great deal of the first album was written this way, and Martin brought over a song from Surgical Steel ("Hotter than Fire"). Street Lethal In late 1985, the band went in to Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California to record their first album on the Shrapnel Records label. In a 1987 clinic video, Gilbert says that the record only cost $9,000 to produce, a relatively low amount for the time. The first album, Street Lethal, was released on New Years' Day 1986 to the acclaim of guitar players and general audiences alike. The songwriting of the band was heavily inspired by such acts as Judas Priest and Van Halen; in fact, similar to the first Van Halen album, Street Lethal opens with an unaccompanied guitar solo entitled "Frenzy". Gilbert's guitar playing was singled out for praise, as his mastery of fast alternate picking, sweep picking, and tapping caught the attention of the guitar community. In fact, the cover art of the album highlights that it is by "Racer X with Paul Gilbert". Shortly after the release of Street Lethal, drummer Harry Gschoesser moved back to his native Austria. Drummer Scott Travis was asked to replace him, but was already committed to play in the band Hawk with Metal Method producer Doug Marks. Eventually, however, Racer X was able to secure Travis as their drummer. Paul Gilbert had graduated GIT by this point and been hired as an instructor. One of his students, 20-year old Bruce Bouillet, was invited into one of his open counseling sessions where he was demonstrating a difficult string skipping sequence to students. Bruce, on the spot, was able to play the part in harmony to the astonishment of both Gilbert and his audience. Gilbert handed him a copy of Street Lethal and invited him to jam with Racer X. Soon afterward, Bruce Bouillet was asked to join Racer X as its second guitarist. With Bouillet co-piloting the guitar duties in Racer X, the band added complex guitar harmonies to its existing songs when performed live. Additionally, Bouillet and Gilbert coordinated certain guitar stunts to perform during their live shows. During the solo to "Getaway", Bruce would fret the notes with his left hand on Paul's guitar while Paul picked them with his right hand. When the band covered "Detroit Rock City", the two would stand side-by-side and play the solo with their teeth. Paul also began using a Makita cordless drill with three picks attached to the bit to play tremolo-picked sequences. He was also famous for laying his guitar on the floor in front of him to play neoclassical tapping sequences. Second Heat Writing began for the second album, tentatively titled "Motor Man", that same year. The band would perform these songs in front of audiences throughout the year. The second album was recorded in the winter of 1986 under the finalized title Second Heat, and was released in February of 1987. Second Heat showed an evolution in the Racer X sound, with Bouillet adding harmonized leads and dueling guitar solos. The album has several notable tracks; first, it includes a cover of an unreleased Judas Priest song entitled "Heart of a Lion". The song was given to Jeff Martin by Rob Halford, lead singer of Judas Priest and longtime friend of Jeff. Additionally, the album features the band's first ballad, entitled "Sunlit Nights", and a cover of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream". The album's most famous track is the instrumental "Scarified", which was based on a drum line devised by Scott Travis during a rehearsal session. The success of Second Heat increased Racer X's renown and shot Bruce Bouillet into further fame as one of guitar's practicing musicians. The band continued to tour in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, and Phoenix (as well as a performance at the Chicago NAMM show). To this day, those cities are the only ones that Racer X has ever performed in. Decline and breakup Racer X was already workshopping material for a third album while simultaneously trying to attract major label attention. They showcased for several labels, which refused to sign them for various reasons. Though some of the new material would never be recorded in a studio, some of it appears on the Extreme Volume albums, which were recorded from shows following the release of Second Heat. The first live album, Extreme Volume Live, contains "Set the World on Fire" and "She Wants Control", neither of which have been recorded to this date. Extreme Volume II ''(released in 1992), however, contains live versions of "Give It To Me" and "Poison Eyes", which were later recorded in 1999 for the ''Technical Difficulties album. Around this time, the members of the band were becoming skeptical about the survivability of a shred-based heavy metal band in the commercial landscape, perhaps none more than Paul Gilbert himself. Paul, a massive fan of 70's pop music, was growing tired of playing high-volume heavy metal music and sought to pursue a different path. Gilbert was then approached by Talas bassist Billy Sheehan and left Racer X to form Mr. Big. Without Gilbert, the band continued for a short time. Bruce Bouillet was temporarily the only guitar player in the band, but they added Bay Area guitarist Chris Arvan for a time to fill in for Gilbert. However, with their success having apparently plateaued, the surviving members agreed to disband amicably after one final show at the Omni in Oakland, CA in 1988. Reformations In the late 90's, Paul Gilbert had achieved worldwide success with Mr. Big and their #1 hit song "To Be With You". He had also embarked on a solo career with his debut solo album, King of Clubs, being released in 1998. However, he was chided by an Australian fan named "snakebyte", who sent him a strongly worded e-mail which criticized him for allegedly selling out and forgetting his heavy metal roots. Paul, famous for his good humor, was happy to speak with snakebyte and, following their phone conversation, was inspired to reform Racer X. After over a decade of silence, Racer X reunited in 1999 to record the album Technical Difficulties with all Second Heat-''era members returning with the solitary exception of Bruce Bouillet, who was suffering from severe carpal tunnel syndrome and had quit playing guitar at the time. The title track of the album, which is actually a re-recording of the song "Metal Dog" from Gilbert's instructional "Terrifying Guitar Trip", achieved great fame, and is possibly the most well-known Racer X song to date. Additionally, the album contains studio recordings of the aforementioned live songs in addition to unrecorded live song "Miss Mistreater". One of the songs, "Snakebite", pays homage to the user who sent Paul the famous e-mail. The string instruments on the album are tuned down to D Standard to accommodate Jeff Martin's vocal range. In 2000, the band released the album ''Superheroes, ''which was mixed by Bruce Bouillet. Once again, this album contains a re-recorded version of an old live song entitled "Mad At The World". The album also contains a cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla". The band's most recent release is 2002's "Getting Heavier", which was somewhat poorly received and criticized as resembling one of Paul Gilbert's poppier solo efforts. In 2009, Racer X reunited to play a set at the NAMM show in Los Angeles. Once again, Bouillet was absent from the band despite having recovered from his injury, but the show was welcomed by fans and is, to date, the last performance of Racer X. Trivia * Although Racer X is based in Los Angeles, all of its members are from other places with the sole exception of Juan Alderete. Paul is from Pennsylvania, Bruce is from Indiana, Scott is from Virginia, and Jeff is from Arizona. Former drummer Harry Gschoesser is from Austria. * Racer X has only ever played in five cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Phoenix, and Chicago. * Racer X vowed to never play in Phoenix again after an incident with a "cursed" rental van. The band rented the van on a fan's sister's credit card. The van was subsequently smashed into by a drunk driver. Then, the A/C got stuck blowing hot air. Finally, it blew a tire on the way back to L.A. and didn't have a spare. Since they'd signed a contract agreeing not to take the van out of California, their trip to Arizona would have voided the insurance. The credit card bill ended up being a mere $70. * Racer X was allegedly named by Bill Lescohier, a PIT student who auditioned for Paul and Juan before Harry Gschoesser was in the band. * The last Racer X album was released in the same year as ''Lilo and Stitch and the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film. * The first Racer X album debuted in the same year as The Oprah Winfrey Show.